FACT SHEET: American Teens’ Sexual and Reproductive Health

Teens are waiting longer to have sex than they did in the recent past. In 2006–2008, some 11% of never-married females aged 15–19 and 14% of never-married males in that age-group had had sex before age 15, compared with 19% and 21%, respectively, in 1995.

Contraceptive use at first sex has increased over time. Particularly large increases in condom use at first sex occurred partially in response to the AIDS epidemic.

The decline in teen pregnancy rates in the United States is due primarily to teens’ improved contraceptive use.

In 2010, New Mexico had the highest teenage pregnancy rate (80 per 1,000); rates in Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma followed. The lowest rates were in New Hampshire (28 per 1,000), followed by Vermont, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Maine.